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Overcoming the Enemy Within

But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will in no way bring to completion the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these oppose one another in order that that which you should desire, this you do not do, Galatians 5:16, 17

The sin nature is one of the more predominate enemies that we face each day of the three that seek to thwart our Christian walk. Unlike Satan, who will flee if we resist him, or the world system, which is designed to rock us to sleep like a little baby, the sin nature never goes away. Morning, noon, and night, it is always there. It seeks to keep us in slavery and demands that we fulfill it desires. So how do we overcome such a formidable foe?

We do not fight the sin nature with law, for the law gives it strength. No, in all actuality, we do not fight the sin nature at all. It is too strong for us! So how do we gain freedom from its grip? By governing our lives according to the Spirit.

You see, in Christ we are dead to the sin nature. We died with Christ and have been raised to walk in newness of life. We need to recognize this truth and act appropriately. As we govern our lives according to who we are in Christ the desires that the Spirit produces in us will make us slaves to righteousness, which is totally contrary to the desires from the flesh, which seek to make us slaves to unrighteousness. The two desires do not mix. You cannot be Spiritual and carnal at the same time. Therefore, […]

Overcoming the Enemy Within2012-12-29T15:10:01-08:00

The One Abiding in Him

1 John 3:6 Every, the one abiding, in Him does not sin. Every, the one sinning, has not seen Him with discernment nor experientially knows Him.

We do not see the change in any of our English translations with the word “sin” in this passage. ‘Sin” is used twice, once as a verb, which describes an action and once as a participle which describes a characteristic. The KJV and NAS us the same word “sin” for both forms, which actually hides the meaning from the reader. The ESV attempts to distinguish the words from the NAS and KVJ, but ends up making the same mistake. The forms of the word “sin” are very important here. A participle is a verbal noun which uses an action to describe a person or characterize them as someone who does the action stated by the verbal portion. Its focus is not on the action of the verb directly. Whereas, a verb simply looks at the action.

We have two participles that are extremely important to our understanding of this passage. First is “the one abiding”. This is one who is characterized as feeling as ease in Him (Christ). Not just simply abiding for a small period of time, off and on, but not really feeling at ease; rather, one who has settled down and feels at ease with who he or she is in Christ. In the translation above I followed the Original Greek, which makes for a bit of hard English, but also helps to bring out the truth of the passage. “Every, the one abiding” (participle), is not referring directly to the action but to the characteristic of the individual who is abiding. “every” is added in the Greek […]

The One Abiding in Him2023-12-14T11:21:00-08:00

Stewardship and Dispensations: The Significance of Οικονομός and Οικονομία

Stewardship and Dispensations: The Significance of Οικονομός and Οικονομία

The sixty-six books of the Bible span thousands of years of man’s history and beyond. They begin before God created man and end with the creation of new heavens and a new earth where righteousness settles down and feels at ease1.  Within the pages of the Bible, we see changes in the relationship and expectation that God has for mankind and the failure of mankind to live up to God’s expectation, which ultimately brings judgment. In the garden of Eden, man was not allowed to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil2. Upon eating of the fruit from this tree, mankind’s spirit was separated from God3, he became subject to physical death, and was expelled from the garden4. Having been expelled from the garden, the expectation for man was to properly govern the manner of his life by the knowledge of good and evil that he now possessed. However, again men failed and God judged the earth by bringing a flood5. After the flood, God instructs Noah that men are to govern themselves and capital punishment is implemented6. Again, men fail to follow God’s instruction, rejected God, and sought their own way. Therefore, God brought judgment and forced man to separate and spread across the earth7.  This judgment brought about multiple languages and the division of the continents, which caused man to spread out across the earth8.  Having scattered man across the face of the earth, God then approaches Abram and ultimately offers him four covenants9. These covenants included a promise of […]

Stewardship and Dispensations: The Significance of Οικονομός and Οικονομία2020-12-05T05:37:14-08:00

Feeling at Ease with Who You are In Christ

John 15:1, 2, 4 I am the true vine and the Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me not bearing fruit He lifts up and every branch bearing fruit He cleanses in order that it may bear more fruit…. Abide in me and I in you. Just as the branch does not have the natural ability to bear fruit from itself except it abides in the vine, thus neither can you, except you abide in me.

When we believed the Gospel for Salvation (Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures) we were placed into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. This body is a new creation by God in which Christ is the head and we are the body. In this new creation, old thing have passed away. We are no longer in Adam and therefore no longer condemned. Behold, all things have become new. We are in Christ, were we are now counted to be righteous before God, our spirits are connected to God, we are no longer a slave to the sin nature, we have a quality of the mind of Christ, and share in a quality of the Divine Nature. The change that happens at salvation is not a visible change because it begins in our spiritual part, and ends with our full redemption at the rapture with a resurrected body and a saved soul. Nonetheless, this change is very real. We are now able to receive the things of the Spirit and live a life that manifests the character of the resurrected Christ.

How comfortable are you with who you are in Christ? When Jesus first revealed the […]

Feeling at Ease with Who You are In Christ2023-11-23T10:32:24-08:00
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